72 Hour Emergency Kit Camp

How fun is this???

How would you actually do if you had to head to the hills with your emergency kit? A group of Utah preppers is going to find out this spring with a 72 Hour KitCamp. The basic plan is to meet at a designated parking place, hike to the first night's location and set up camp. Next day, hike to another location and set up camp again. Trick is you can only bring your 72 hour kit--nothing else!

They are also planning on having some workshops and learn/teach a few skills and will have extras of the necessities so nobody dies.

This sounds like way too much fun to me. My kit is pretty well put together, but this has gotten me thinking if I were to take my family, how would we do? I would love to find out, after all, by practice we acquire the skills we need and quickly find the weak areas we need to work on. My only concern right now is the cost of restocking my emergency kit after the trip (we're kind of in a money crunch--like usual). Oh yeah, and my husband getting the time off work to be able to go with. Oh and having some type of shelter for all of us--really do I want to sleep in my space blanket? My kids are pretty good hikers, but could we actually pack all that stuff? And what if it rained??? What would your concerns be? Or are you ready to sign up? :)

Crazy Week

I cannot believe it is Friday already again! This week has been a bit crazy with home and mom duties. I have been gathering stuff for my emergency notebooks and almost have all the originals I need in one place. Had to order my youngest's birth certificate and got that now so I think it's just my husband's stuff we need to add to the pile. Still working on insurance policies--I figured I'd just catch them as they arrived in the mail this month and have the latest copies for my notebook (hopefully won't be needing it in the meantime!).

Did a little "self reliance" sewing yesterday and this morning for my husband. He had a heavy cotton duck (like canvas) vest with fleece lining, and the fleece had relaxed and stretched (like fleece does over time), but of course the outer material hadn't stretched with it so the bottom of the vest was flipping up and bugging him. So I cut the fleece at the bottom and reattached it (of course, like all my honeydo's this took about 3 weeks to get around to doing it and about 10 minutes to get done). Also had to adjust the waistband on all 700 pairs of his thermal bottoms (okay 8 pair) as the rise was too tall on them (think grandpa pants). So I cut the waistband off and reattached it to the thermals with a stretch stitch about 1 1/2 inches lower. This took a bit more time to get done than the vest project. Now if I can just find all those shirts he has that need a button sewn on . . . maybe I'll get around to those in a couple of weeks . . . :)

Update at 5:02 pm Just when I thought I had all the alterations done, I found another pair of his thermals in the laundry! GRRRR. Kind of like finding a dirty plate in the living room when you're finished washing dishes! Oh well. Bustin' out the sewing machine again . . .

Firearms Rights Under Fire--Join the NRA Here!

Some of you know I've been selling firearms for the last 3 years. I've also been an NRA recruiter for about a year, and am so excited to introduce my brand new Join the NRA link (see the sidebar to the right in case you missed it)! There has never been a more important time to join the National Rifle Association than now. With a solidly anti-gun President in office and anti-gun majorities in both houses of congress, we as gun owners and/or friends of freedom need to do all we can to uphold those God-given rights protected by our Constitution. A short bit of history for you all:

The Constitution was written at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and had to be ratified by the individual states. Many of the state representatives did not like the idea of a federal government that could get too powerful and so as "anti-federalists" insisted that the Bill of Rights was attached to the Constitution before they would ratify it. So, short story even shorter, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution were written to protect individuals' God-given rights FROM the power of the federal government, and the 2nd amendment protects one of the most basic of rights, the right to self protection and it needs to be preserved.

If you are not already a member of the NRA, please take a minute and click the Join NRA button on the sidebar. It's quick, easy, and there are many different options available for membership lengths and costs. If you are already a member, bless you! You can also use the link to renew your membership. Even if you don't own a firearm, you can still join and support your right to keep and bear arms. Leave me a comment that you've joined and I'll give you a big ol' electronic hug for your patriotism! :)

More Blog Updates

Made a couple of minor changes to the blog lately, so I thought I'd give you a heads up. I've taken the direct links to old posts off the sidebar and replaced them with labels. I liked the direct links better since you could go right to the post you were interested in, but I was getting too many posts to keep adding them on without the list getting crazy long, so I've switched to the labels method instead. You can always use the "search blog" button also at the top to find something if you had a particular post you were wanting to refer back to.

I also shut the music off. It is still at the bottom of the page--you can turn it on if you like it. I did this for a couple of reasons. First I started this blog as a personal journal type blog with a couple of friends reading it, so didn't mind annoying them. :) Now I'm getting people I don't know checking the blog from various searches and links here and so I'd rather keep it "professionalish". Second, my sweet husband has left the volume on our computer up a couple of times and when I checked my blog, the music started so loud I about jumped out of my skin! Don't need that happening to someone else! :) Anyway, thought I'd give you all an update. :) Thanks for hanging around!

Making Gravy from a Liquid

Gravy is a necessity with meat at my house and there's a couple of ways to make it. Today we'll do the liquid based method (usually results in clear gravy depending on what you add to it), another day we'll do the fat based method (these are usually the cream/white style gravy).

Step 1: Get your liquid ready. Liquid base gravy starts with a liquid. This can be the juices from a roast, chicken, turkey, ham or broth from a can or water and boullion. I'm using turkey juices. You can strain your juices if you don't like chunks in your gravy. I like mine with everything in it, so I just pull the meat out of the roasting pan and make the gravy right in the pan. If you had a fatty piece of meat, skim some of the fat off the top of the juices with a spoon. Then turn on the burner (this roaster spans 2 burners, so I turn them both on) and heat the juices up. Stir and scrape the good scrappy stuff off the bottom and sides of the pan. Here's the pan of yummy turkey juice:
Step 2: This is optional--sometimes you need it, sometimes not. If you don't have a lot of broth or it is really concentrated, add some water. If I'm making mashed potatoes and they're done, I add potato water to the gravy. Free starchy water with potato goodness in it that otherwise would go down the sink. (Okay, the picture didn't come out so good--hard to get a nice picture when your flash goes off and it's steamy.)

Step 3: Get a cup of COLD water. You can use a glass or plastic measuring cup or just a mug. You don't want anything too tall since you'll be stirring in it. Hot water makes lumps out of the cornstarch.
Step 4: Put a couple of heaping tablespoons of cornstarch into the cup. How much cornstarch you will need will depend on the amount of juice you have. It'll take more starch to thicken up if it's a big ol' pot o' broth. Start with a couple heaping scoops--you can always add more. Stir it up.
Step 5: Pour the cornstarch/water mixture in the boiling broth. Stir it in and bring back to a boil. If, when it's boiling, it's not thick enough, repeat steps 3-5. If it's too thick (I've made batches before that turned out as thick as jelly--oops!) add some water and stir it in.
Step 6: Once it's gravy consistency, season to taste. Some gravies need lots of salt, others don't. It will depend on what you started with. If it's going over mashed potatoes, make it a little saltier than you think it should be (the potatoes counteract some of the saltiness). I've fixed up gravy I thought tasted perfect and then had to salt it once it was on the potatoes. Yummy, yummy, yummy gravy. Oh yeah, make sure cornstarch is on your food storage list :)

Enjoy!

Firearms Post

I was not going to delve into firearms for a while on this board, but was asked to guest post about it at Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest. Be forewarned, if you go to the post there, it is not a G rated blog--probably more of a PG13, but they have interesting discussions and one recently was about the basic 4 firearms a person could get by with: .22 rifle or handgun, shotgun, centerfire handgun, and centerfire rifle. I know you all don't know what some of those are and some of you do, and that's okay, I'll go over it in a future post for those who don't. In fact, if you don't know much about firearms and don't care to dive in without the basics, you can quit reading now :) If you want to read the post with their commentary, it's here. Otherwise, here's just the part I wrote:

I am a small framed woman (5’2” approx 110 lbs) who loves to shoot stuff. I’ll give you a disclaimer here: I have not shot every gun out there, not even close. I’m basing my choices on guns I own or have handled or fired, so there might be something better out there that I just don’t know about.

There are a few problems with 80% of the guns available if you are smaller than the average man (which most women are) and especially if you’re smaller than the average woman. First is the weight of the gun. This has to be somewhat of a compromise. A long gun that is too heavy leads to an awkward shooting stance just to get it stabilized. A handgun that is too heavy will also be difficult to hold right. But if it’s not heavy enough, you personally take a good deal more of the recoil since the weight of the gun isn’t counteracting the pressure of the round being fired. This is especially true with handguns. The little KelTec P3AT or Ruger LCP are cute and concealable, but have a nasty bite when they are fired due to their relative light weight, so you’ll probably be cutting practice sessions short.

Another problem small people have with most long guns is that a "standard" length of pull (usually around 14-14 1/2 inches) is too long. They might believe they have an issue with the recoil when actually they have an issue with the gun fitting right. If your gun fits right, you can take more recoil because it hits in the correct place on your shoulder instead of out on your arm somewhere. This would apply to rifles and shotguns. I've only shot one Ruger 10/22 and didn't like it due to weight and length of pull.I have similar experience with handguns. .45's are not so bad if I can get my hands securely around the grip. I've had a lot of people recommend Glocks/M&P's/XD's/etc., and they are fantastic guns, but I cannot physically get my hand around the grips of the double stacked magazine pistols (even the new ones with adjustable grips). If my hubby brought one of those home for me, he'd just have to keep it (which I’m sure he wouldn’t mind). Being able to get a good, comfortable grip on your handgun goes a long way towards making shooting fun and if it's fun you'll want to do it more and practice makes good shooting.

So after all that rambling, here’s the guns I like:

Centerfire Rifle: For average shooting, I like our Winchester Model 94 lever action 30-30. The stock length is only slightly too long which is manageable. It is a little shorter overall, a lot lighter weight, and has less recoil than our other deer hunting rifle (Remington 742 30.06 autoloader). If I’m actually going to hunt deer, there’s a lot of open country around here and so I use the 30.06 with the scope attached. Even though I don’t like it as much, it’s better for longer distance shots. (I actually do most of my hunting archery, so haven’t had to use the rifle much.)

Centerfire Pistol: I am not a fan of revolvers. Some people are and they are welcome to shoot them. I own and love a Colt Mustang .380. Unfortunately these pistols are no longer in production although you can find them used every once in a while. I’ll tell you why I love this gun and then maybe my reasoning can apply to a more readily available handgun. Remember what I said about fit in the introduction? This gun fits my hands perfectly. For a .380 it is a bit heavy, but that actually helps with the recoil bite—I get very little recoil with this pistol. Another consideration with any gun and especially one that you would rely on to protect your life or the lives of your loved ones is reliability. The gun has to go bang every time, and this one does. Another reason I like it is it is not too “fat”. Thick guns are hard to conceal (if you are inclined to carry concealed), especially on a small framed individual, and I can carry this one in my favorite holster and only I know it’s there (okay, maybe my husband can tell). I have picked up the Kahr pistols and really like the feel of them—maybe someday I’ll move up to a Kahr .40 if I ever have that much cash laying around! :)

.22: Marlin Model 60. This is no status symbol gun, but it is fun to shoot, accurate, and lighter weight with a shorter stock than the Ruger 10/22. And did I mention it’s cheap? What more could you want for a plinker rifle?

Shotgun: Remington 870. I do not own this one, it’s on my wish list, but I’ve done a lot of shooting with my friend’s. His is a 12 ga right out of the box so I always go home with bruises on my arm from not being able to get it shouldered properly. These shotguns are readily available, dang fun shooters, and cheap in the realm of shotguns. The 20 gauge youth model is a fantastic fit for smaller people. I really want a 12 gauge so my husband can shoot it also, and I can shoot 12 ga. target loads all day long with the right stock fit, so am looking at aftermarket adjustable stocks for the 870 12 ga. Remington told me their 16 ga. youth stock will interchange with their 12 ga 870, so there are options to get a youth size 12 ga. shotgun, I’ll just have to work a little harder for it.

So ladies, if you’ve never liked shooting, but you’ve always just shot the guns your husband/dad/boyfriend used, look for something that fits right and give it another try—you might be pleasantly surprised. Handle as many guns as you can get your hands on, and fire as many as you can before making your decision (most friends with guns would be more than happy to let you try their guns out, and there are ranges that will rent you different guns also—check around). And whatever you decide on, I’d also recommend some training. Some ranges have a ladies’ night if you don’t want to go shoot with a bunch of guys. Husbands/boyfriends/dads, if you’re looking to buy your girl a new gun, make sure to take her with you to handle them—you’ll both be happier with the purchase that way. A comfortable gun makes all the difference between loving shooting and hating it.

72 Hour Emergency Kit Updates

I got together with a couple of friends last week and we hashed over our emergency kits. So now I've added a couple of things: mini scriptures, sunblock, purell (hand sanitizer), and some cash. I put all my liquid/lotions/soaps in snack size baggies to protect against leakage.

I also updated my medications. Before, I had 20 year old meds all thrown together in one little bottle, but realized this is not a good or safe method of keeping medications, so I put new medications each in their own snack size ziplock and wrote what medication it was, the lot number and date of expiration on the bags. I was surprised to find that half the meds in my cupboard are expired! Guess I'll need to be getting some fresh stuff . . . Don't forget your sharpie! :)Another thing I will be adding was mentioned in the comments section of my emergency notebooks post. I picked up a couple of flash drives at WalMart for $5.00 each and am scanning important documents and putting them on the drives, then putting the drives in my kits (see the emergency notebook post for a list of suggested documents).

One of my friends suggested shrinking the house down and getting one of those carpet bags like Mary Poppins has . . . anyone know where we could get a carpet bag like that? Maybe we could get a group deal on them . . . :)

Teach Your Children

This is a post for me. Maybe it will benefit some of you as well. :)

How much should you involve your kids when doing self reliance/preparedness type activities? My opinion (of course every thing I write here is my opinion) is that they should be very involved. For example, our 72 hour emergency kits . . .

I'm not the best at following my own advice--every time I update the emergency kits I face a moral dilemma--do I do it quickly and neatly while the kids are in school/playing with a friend/etc., or do I do it when they are home and have parts of the kits strewn all over the house as I'm trying to swap out the clothes in them? I've done both (depending on my mood that day--if one more mess is going to push me into a breakdown I do it without them). But I want them to know what is in the kits, what they are for, what they are not for, etc. I want them to know where their kit is kept and how to use what's in it. Take away the mystery and you take away the curiosity. Involve them, let them ask questions, and then when the mystery backpack is under their bed, they feel no need to get it out and eat the candy in it (well, at least not quite as often).

Another example is the garden. Let (or is it make?) the kids help you plant, weed, water, pick stuff etc. Sure, you will have crooked rows with bald patches in them and almost ripe veggies picked when you were really looking forward to eating that tomato in 2 more days, but the kids will learn what a garden takes and witness the miracle of food coming from seeds. I read a story once about a guy who took his kids with him to work in his potato fields and his neighbor asked, "why do you take your kids with you? Doesn't it take twice as long with them there?" To which the man replied, "I'm not raising potatoes, I'm raising kids." I really have to remind myself of this when I have the urge to answer the question, "can I help?" with "yeah, you can help by getting out of the way." Really, some times it is twice as exhausting and takes twice as long, but find a way to let them help you.

And the satisfaction they get when they did it is fantastic to witness. My 7 year old just opened her first can with a manual can opener the other night and she was so excited about it she wanted to tell everyone in the family! Now, I could have quickly and easily run that can through the electric can opener and told her I didn't have anything for her to do, but I got creative, listened to my own advice, and found a way to let her help.

Moral of the post is it is worth it to get the kids involved, it really is. Really. You'll be happy in the end when your kids hopefully grow up a little more self reliant and responsible. (At least that's my hope . . . )

Used vs. New Canning Lids

Here's a quick post to answer a question my sister had: How can you tell the difference between used and new canning lids? There are a few ways to tell. First, the new ones are in a box and second, the used ones have the date sharpied on them :) However, if you used lids on freezer jam, they aren't in the box and have a date sharpied on them, but they are still not USED. And sometimes new lids get mixed in with old lids in the sack/box/wherever you keep your canning goods. And sometimes you might not have marked the lids. So here's a better method. Turn them over and look at the gummy stuff around the rim. If it's smooth like this one, it has not been sealed and is good to use to seal a jar.
If it has a deep jar rim indentation in the gummy stuff, like this one, it has already been sealed and cannot be used again.Sometimes if the lid has been on a jar like for freezer jam, or if you store your empty jar with a lid on it and the gummy side has been against the jar rim, it will have a slight indentation in the gummy stuff, but it's still good to use. It will not be as deep an indentation as a lid that has sealed. Hope that helps!

Trying a new layout

I've wanted to have my blog on the stretch format so my long posts didn't look so . . . well . . . long. Sometimes I get going and writing and you have to scroll down three pages to read the whole post and I want to save you all from getting carpal tunnel or whatever you get from scrolling your screen down a crazy amount of times. So I've worked up a background that lets me use the whole page. I'm not sure I love it yet, but I'm running out of time to work on it today, so here it is for now. It might change again . . . haven't decided. It's local native american rock art of someone hunting a bighorn sheep. Kind of fun.

Free Preparedness Money

A good friend of mine is redesigning her blog and wanting input. She's currently holding a giveaway for $50.00 cold hard cash (well, electronic cash anyway) which YOU could spend on something on your emergency supplies wish list! Stop by her blog here and follow the directions to enter the giveaway--good luck!

Emergency Notebooks

I'm putting together a couple of notebooks (might turn into more). The first is a Grab and Go Emergency notebook with copies of important documents in it. I'm thinking to make a second copy and leave it at my mom's house or something so if my house burns to the ground while I'm away, I still have access to my information. Here's a long ol' list I got from a preparedness fair of what to put in it (most of these I don't even have, so they aren't going in mine, but I guess as you get older you get more of this stuff):

Proof of Identification
*Driver's License
*Concealed weapons permit/s
*Birth Certificates
*Social Security Cards
*Passports
*Marriage License

Property Records
*Mortgage/Deed
*Rental agreement
*Video, photos, lists of inventory (my insurance guy said to make sure I am in the photos or video--better proof that it was actually my stuff I guess)
*Receipts for major purchases
*Payment record for major repairs
*Appraisals of jewelry, other valuables
*Titles to vehicles
*Cemetery lot information
*Firearm inventory/Serial Numbers

Insurance Policies
*Homeowners
*Health
*Life
*Disability
*Automobile

Medical Information
*Immunizations, other records
*Prescription information (drug, dosage)
*Health Insurance ID Cards
*Physicians names and phone numbers
*Living will
*History of illnesses, accidents, surgeries
*Power of Attorney for health care
*Dental records

Estate Planning
*Wills, trusts
*Power of attorney
*Funeral instructions
*Attorney's name and phone number

Financial Records
*Tax returns (2 years)
*Credit cards front and back
*Stocks, bonds, CD's, money market
*Recent bank statement

Other
*Personal address book
*Backup of important computer files
*Usernames and passwords for online accounts
*Key to safety deposit box
*Recent photograph
*List of where original documents are kept
*Extra set of car and house keys
*Map of area and phone numbers of places you could go in case of evacuation
*Numbers of gas and electric company
*Emergency numbers

Whew. Obviously it will take a while to get all this together and copied and I still have to buy the notebook, but I've started with some of the personal identification documents. You want to get the information for every member of the family, so I'll also have to catch my husband home so I can copy the contents of his wallet. I was thinking if the documents are put in page protectors it would probably be best to keep them whole and so they don't accidentally tear out of the notebook, otherwise, 3 hole punch them.

Then put the notebook somewhere not hidden too deep, but camoflauged enough so you know what it is and can get it quickly if needed, but it doesn't scream to theives to steal it (it has your WHOLE LIFE in it!)

My second (and maybe third) notebook is for any prep information I have that I want to keep. Remember if the power is out you won't be able to look it up on the internet! So print it off and put it in a notebook. Right now I have a file folder packed with stuff that is going to go into this notebook so I can actually use it instead of being stuffed in a file where I'll never look at it if I even remember it's there. Instructions, recipes, information. Anything you think will be useful. Copy, print, write stuff down and put it all in one place.

HEY, don't stop reading! There were some good questions brought up in the comments! Click on comments and read on! :)

Sharpies are my Friends

Yep, Sharpies. Little permanent markers--not too thick, not too thin--that can write on almost anything! In my storage, I use my sharpies mostly for recording dates on items. Of course you can use a pencil and paper and write it all down in a notebook, it just wouldn't be as easy. When you purchase something you are planning to store or planning to use, or you bottle, dry, or freeze something, sharpie the date on it--just get your sharpie out when you bring the groceries home and mark the stuff as you put it away. Then mark it again when you get it out to use it if applicable. Dating your storage stuff serves a few different purposes.

First is rotation. You'll always know which bottle of oil is the oldest if they all have the date of purchase on them.

Second, you'll find out how long things last. Because I date my stuff, I know I can use canola oil that is 4 years old and it will be okay as long as the bottle was sealed the whole time.

Third, you'll find out how long it takes you/your family to use something. When you know how long something lasts at your house, you can calculate how many of that item you will need for a 3 month, 6 month, year, or longer supply. Keep in mind that items like oil/flour/shortening you will use more of in a survival situation as you won't be supplementing with convenience foods at that time, so better to overestimate than underestimate. AND items like shampoo you will likely use less of than you do now (bummer).

Here's my current shortening can. The red date is the date I bought it and the black date is the date I opened it.
Some things like toilet paper can't be sharpied, so a pencil and paper to keep track of those items would work. DO keep a notebook with your calculations in it--this I have not done and I wish I had (I guess I honestly thought I could keep track of it all in my brain . . . duh!). So I'll be re-dating some items I know I have already calculated and writing it all down for my notebook this time! Happy Marking! :)

Another Quick Post . . . Don't Forget Exercise!

Exercise? Isn't that a dirty word? Well, I thought I'd do some yesterday so I borrowed a friend's yoga video and went to work. Of course I don't believe in doing the beginner level, surely I'm better than that, right? Well, I pulled some muscle I didn't even know existed and by the time I went to bed last night I was pretty sore! How could you possibly hurt yourself doing yoga with all that breathing and relaxing??? Feeling much better today, but long story short, when you're starting a new exercise plan, go easy!

Quick Note about a Book Giveaway

LDS author Anne Bradshaw is giving away a book on her blog this week. The book is Does Your Bag Have Holes? 24 Truths That Lead to Financial and Spiritual Freedom by Cameron Taylor. Finances is one area I could use some real improvement! Who wouldn't want financial and spiritual freedom? Check it out here.

Yard Sale/Thrift Store Shopping List

I usually have a list in the back of my mind when I go to a yard sale or thrift store of things I'm looking for. I guess it would be better to have it written down and keep it in my wallet or purse so if I get a chance to stop by somewhere I'll know what to look for. Always check the item's condition. A $3.00 backpacking stove is useless if it doesn't work. Any preparedness item is fair game and you never know what you'll find at a yardsale that might not be on your list, so keep an open mind, but here's a few things to watch for if you don't already have them:

Kids clothes/shoes/snow gear/coats/etc. in good condition. Even if they're 2 sizes too big, KIDS GROW! I have a box or 2 for each of my kids to "grow into" and every spring/fall we bring it out and shuffle clothes around.

Camping/Outdoor Gear--propane/gas stoves, tent, fishing poles, etc. I got a volcano stove and accessories at a yardsale once for $40, the one we bought new was $129 without any extras!--now it sits in my storage waiting to be used (guess maybe I should get it out and practice with it).

Firearms/Shooting stuff (this is my dream yardsale!). Unusual to find guns for sale, but every once in a while someone is wanting to sell one. We had a yard sale once and someone asked if we had any guns, (of course we weren't telling or selling) so I guess it doesn't hurt to ask even if you don't see any. I have seen a trap thrower, reloading press/dies/scale, boxes of shotgun shells, you just have to keep your eyes open.

Cast iron or other heavy pots/pans, dutch ovens--great for outdoor cooking.

Old candles--light is always good, but even if you can't use them for a candle, you can always melt them down for egg carton/lint firestarters or tuna can stoves. (we'll discuss these another time)

Canning and Food Preservation--canners, jars, canning tools, dehydrator, meat grinder, etc. I've seen all this and bought a lot of my own canning/food gear at yard sales.

Tools. Even crazy old timey tools--we just got a forge from a farm auction in Denver (My husband knows what to do with it--I think I'd just have to put a board over the top of it and make it into a table.)

NON ELECTRICAL entertainment. Board games, etc. If the power's out, you'll need something to do!

Fabric. This is because I love to sew, but it wouldn't hurt anyone to have a few yards of good heavy fabric around to repair pants, tents, whatever with, and fabric at yardsales is amazingly cheap! I sew reenactment clothes and made me a skirt once from a chunk of fabric I got for 35 cents! I love it! (Reenactment clothes already made cost WAY more than 35 cents!)

This is not a comprehensive list. Keep in mind any gear you might be looking for at the time you hit the sale. At one point we were looking for an old wood stove. Now we found one and we're looking for triple wall pipe to go with it so we can install it.

Not sure why I'm dreaming about yard sales in the dead of winter . . .

What's on your list?

Why I Do This Crazy Stuff

Why do I do all this crazy stuff? There's a few reasons I spend time and money on preparedness and self reliance. Here's my first 3 reasons:
I never want to have to look my kids in the eye and tell them I have nothing for them to eat or can't do anything to keep them warm or safe. I will do all I can to keep that from happening.

Fourth, my husband and I like to eat also. He gets real ornery if he doesn't eat (as most of us do) and I have no desire to go hungry at any time if I can do anything about it, so I do. I could always hit the store if a disaster comes along, but I really don't like to shop especially if there's crowds, so if there were a disaster and there was a run on the grocery store (there's only one here), I DO NOT want to be involved in it. I want to already have what I need or be able to make do with what I have so I don't need to be around a bunch of panicky people.

Fifth, natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars, calamaties foretold by ancient and modern prophets. In our church, we have been told by our prophets to obtain a 3 month supply and year's supply of food. I believe the prophets. Whether we end up needing it in our lifetime or not, I'm obeying.

Sixth, it's fun. I enjoy the satisfaction of knowing I can fix it, grow it, build it, sew it (and I'm one of those that hates asking for help even when it's obvious I need it).

Seventh, money doesn't grow on trees (too bad or I'd plant some of them out with my baby fruit trees!). Love the pioneer adage: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. I grew up that way, and am raising my family that way.

I'm sure there are more reasons, I just can't think of them right now! :) What's your reason?

Glossary of Preparedness Terms and Acronyms

This is a work in progress glossary to define a few preparedness/food storage terms and acronyms that are commonly used among those who know what they mean, but are rarely used and even more rarely understood by those who don't know what they mean :). Feel free to leave comments with any other terms you think should be added or additions/changes that need to be made to definitions and I'll get them on the list!

BOB: Bug Out Bag. Similar to a 72 hour emergency kit--a kit with some way to transport it with gear in it for personal survival if you had to evacuate your location.

EMP: Electromagnetic Pulse. Surge of electromagnetic energy from a nuclear detonation that would damage/kill most electrical devices in the affected area.

Food Storage: Non perishable foods stored at your residence or other location that will feed yourself and/or your family in the event the need arises. Foods can be stored for short term storage (shelf life of months-about 5 years) or long term storage (5+ years shelf life).

MRE: Meal Ready to Eat. First used by the military these fully cooked meals need little or no water for preparation and are packed in heavy plastic. Can be eaten hot or cold, providing ease of preparation, lots of calories and protein, but taste nasty.

TEOTWAWKI: The End of The World as We Know It. Term loosly refers to any catastrophic event that would affect infrastructure, commerce, etc. and definitely require your preparedness and self reliance skills!

Fun with Food Storage

Found a neat site about food storage with lots of great resources called Fun with Food Storage Network. They are having some great giveaways right now. Check it out here.

I've Been Tagged . . .

I've been tagged by my good friend Sharla at The Mom Nerd for this post, so bear with me. I'm supposed to list 7 random things about myself then tag 7 people or something. I think I can come up with 7 things about me, but I really don't know 7 other people who look at this blog, so I guess I'll skip that part, but if you read this and feel inclined to do it on your own blog, consider yourself tagged. Okay, here goes . . .

1. I LOVE to shoot stuff! Pistol, rifle, shotgun, BB gun, archery, anything. I get great satisfaction watching a clay pigeon bust into a gazillion pieces or hearing my arrow "thunk" into the target. Destroying stuff can be very therapeutic :)

2. I get frequent migraines. 2-3 times a week and almost every Sunday (haven't figured out why on the Sunday thing yet). Mostly from not getting enough sleep, not eating right or frequent enough or getting dehydrated, but sometimes they just come on for no reason at all . . .

3. I never went to beauty school, but I cut the hair of everyone in my family (which is why we all look so fabulous!) Oh yeah, and my husband's never had to wear a hat to cover one of my haircuts (well, he's never done it, not that he didn't want to . . . ) AND no, I don't just do buzz cuts on the boys . . . I tried, but they don't like them.

4. I think I have something to learn from everyone I meet.

5. I'm an amazing procrastinator.

6. I've worked at an egg farm, food prep and bussing tables at a restaurant, as a valet at a casino, and doing wardrobe and set construction for TV/film/stage productions. And now I'm a mom and I use all those skills (well, maybe not the egg farm skills . . . )

7. I had a back surgery to correct a herniated disk when I was 26 and that's the only night I've spent in the hospital except when having a baby or being a baby.

Phew, that was difficult. One more thing--I'm not real good at talking about myself all that much . . . this post was enough for me for a while! Hope you're not all bored silly. :)

HEAT!

When preparing for emergencies, some of the first considerations are clean water, food, shelter, and in cold climates like ours--heat. My main concern in this house has been heat. We have gas heat so if the gas flow is interrupted OR the electricity goes out, we have no heat and the place cools off in a hurry! We have an old wood stove outside waiting for us to get some triple wall pipe so we can install it somewhere in this tiny old house, so it's not doing much good right now. So for Christmas this year, Santa brought us a kerosene heater (he got it used on ebay for about $70 including shipping).
I'm pretty excited, but to be honest, I don't have the slightest idea how it works! I'll be picking up some kerosene next time I'm in town and it has an instruction book with it, so I should be able to figure it out . . . :) Feeling better about not freezing anyway.

New Year's Resolutions

Don't forget to add to your goals for the New Year to practice emergency preparation skills! I have it on my list to practice or try something new relating to self reliance at least once a month (hopefully more).

Some skills include growing a garden, canning, lighting a fire, build a temporary shelter, pack lunch in a backpack and go for a hike, learn to shoot a gun, cook a meal outside, etc. Be creative! I'm open for suggestions also, so if you want to leave some ideas for learning or practicing put it in the comment section!